We Have an Issue: Diving Into a High-Stakes Election Year
Contemplating a March primary, a November election, and the Austin Music Poll Ballot – vote now!
By Kimberley Jones, Fri., Jan. 5, 2024
I kicked off 2024 with a personal first. Like an absolute lunatic, I flung myself into Barton Springs Pool on a brisk New Year's Day for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Reader, I loved it. That dopamine rush is no joke, and the spirit of community, the surge of optimism in the air, was so powerful.
I'm going to try to hold on to that feeling as we go into what will no doubt be another stressful and chaotic election year. (For now, let's not talk about the orange elephant in the room.) In this week's cover story, senior staff writer Austin Sanders surveys the candidates who've already announced for City Council races, though the field is certain to become more crowded once filing officially opens in July. As Austin points out, we're electing a mayor in November, but nobody – including our current mayor – has officially thrown their hat in the ring just yet.
Of course, the ballot box will be summoning us sooner than November: The March 5 primary looms. In February, we'll publish the Chronicle's endorsements, as well as the League of Women Voters' very handy nonpartisan voter guide.
Always Be Balloting
Voting in our annual Austin Music Poll starts today. For newbies: This is the Chronicle's long-running poll, voted on by our readers. The winners will then be feted at the Austin Music Awards on Feb. 25, which is also a concert. Music Editor Rachel Rascoe explains more on p.40.
Vote now through Jan. 22 at vote.austinchronicle.com. Need some incentive? Get entered to win a South by Southwest Music wristband when you vote in 25 or more categories.
ONLINE THIS WEEK
Killing It at the Movies: The Austin Film Critics Association has announced its 2023 award nominees, with two historical epics – Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon and for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer – nabbing 10 nods a piece.
"Life-Saving" Comes With an Asterisk in Texas: The conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided this week that Texas can ban lifesaving abortions in emergency rooms.
A Rumbling Underfoot: Amid increasing earthquakes in Culberson and Reeves counties, Texas' oil and gas regulator, the Texas Railroad Commission, determined that the recent rise in seismic activity in the area is a result of fracking wastewater injections and has suspended 23 oil and gas operators' disposal permits, effective Jan. 12.
What a Way to Make a Living: American legend Dolly Parton gifted Austin's own Brigitte Bandit with a custom signed-and-rhinestoned guitar.
Who We Become: Austin-based filmmaker PJ Raval discusses his new documentary about three Filipino American women coming of age during the pandemic.
Austin Community Land Trust: The window is now open to apply to a city-run program connecting limited-income folks with affordably priced homes.
Big Bucks Spent on DPS Partnership: At the Travis County Commissioners Court's last meeting of 2023, commissioners approved a request for $80,000 from the Justices of the Peace for Precincts 1, 2, 4, and 5 to address their increased workload in processing citations from the Department of Public Safety partnership earlier this year.
